EODMU 6 Sailors Deploy to Afghanistan

From Navy Expeditionary Combat Command Public Affairs

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (NNS) -- Twenty-seven Sailors from Explosive Ordnance Disposal Mobile Unit (EODMU) 6 deployed to Afghanistan in support of counter-improvised explosive device (CIED) task force in southwest Afghanistan, Feb. 9.

The unit's primary mission for this deployment will be to defeat the IED threat while protecting coalition forces. EODMU 6 technicians are called upon to render safe conventional ordnance, neutralize IEDs and landmines, as well as conduct force protection diving and underwater mine countermeasures.

EODMU 6 personnel are responsible for analyzing and handling foreign, domestic and homemade explosives in order to render them safe and dispose of the explosive material.

"Ours is primarily responding to explosives of one sort or another," said Cmdr. Dean Muriano, EODMU 6 commanding officer. "Obviously now the focus is really on the counter IED fight."

U.S. Navy EOD is the world's premier combat force for countering IEDs, weapons of mass destruction, and all other types of weaponry. Navy EOD technicians are the "first in" – enabling access for further combat operations in every environment – on the ground, in the air and under the sea.